Abdominal and pelvic laparotomies require displacement and retention of bowels to create adequate exposure to the surgical site. When a section of bowel protrudes from the dressings into the surgical site, the entire bowel packing procedure must be completely redone. Continuous slipping of the bowels into the surgical field results in a waste of time and resources for the surgeon and extended anesthesia time for the patient.
The current packing procedure used in the operating room today is time-consuming relative to the overall priorities of events in a surgery. The surgeon first uses his hands to displace the bowels away from the surgical site. Intra-abdominal sponges and towels are then used to pack the bowels out of the way. Surgical cotton sponges are produced in a multitude of forms such as those described by U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,971,381; 4,490,146; 4,626,251; 4,205,680; 4,515,594; and 4,704,109. These cotton sponges are highly absorbent and ubiquitous in modern operating rooms. Finally, abdominal retractors are fitted over the dressings with gentle traction to hold them in place.
Bowel packing takes up to thirty minutes, and it must be repeated frequently during extended surgical procedures. Also, the surgical packs can be forgotten in the abdominal cavity. Furthermore, the cotton sponges used to pack the bowels are made of loose cotton fibers that remain in the abdominal cavity even after removal of the sponges. These fibers can promote peritoneal inflammation, a major cause of post-operative adhesion formation. Furthermore, the sponges tend to dry out over the course of the surgical procedure, becoming abrasive and adhesive to the bowels themselves, further contributing to the formation of adhesions, a leading cause of post-operative morbidity.